The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1887-09-17
cANADA'S CAPITAL.
An American Clergy's Gossip About the
City OF Ottawa.

ottawa was nNed on by the Queen as
the site of the capital of the now united
province of Canada. Quebec. Mon
treal. Kingston and Toronto put in
their claims. and the contest was pecu-
liarly keen between Upper and Lower
Canada. as the position Of the capital
would involve at least the temporary
predominanee of the English or French
element. The Queen, to whom the
question was referred as being too diff
ficult and delicate for provincial solu-
ton. preferred Ottawa, to the displeas-
ure of course of every one of the other
candidates. and to the general surprise
of Canada. Ottawa has but lately
emerged into notice from the OBJ
scure name of Bytown; it is the
smallest of all the competitors,
having only fifteen thousand inhabit-
ants. and is far removed from the great
thoroughfare and traffic in the valley Of
the St Lawrence. The reasons that
seemed to have influenced the Queens
counselors were these-all the other
candidates were decidedly either in
Upper or Lower Canada. but Ottawa is
on the boundary of both provinces.
the river Ottawa forming marked di-
vision between the French and English
populations. 1t was therefore COM
promise by an arbiter, where disput-
| ants, if left to themselves, might have
pushed the case TO disruption. In
case of war. moreover, Ottawa is far
therest removed from the frontier OF
the United States, and is susceptible of
being strongly fortified. Although in
part of the country that has not yet
been fully opened up. it has a great ex-
tent of the very best land around it.
and needs only some stimulus TO be-
come thriving and populous center.
The city of Ottawa, like the country
of which it is capital, is to be judged
more by its future than its present
There are many inhabitants in it older
than its first house, and l have con-
versed with good old lady who lived
two months on the site of the Parlia-
| ment House in hut with barrel for
a chimney. All was then unbroken for
est, and she had to wait these two
months till road could be cut to her
husbands concession twenty miles off.
Even now the primitive pine groves
and cedar thickcts can be seen close at
hand, seals are seen disporting them
| selves in the river, and fox who COM
mits nightly depredations on the poul-
try has his headquarters beneath the
Parliament House, and defies dislodg-
ment. The town is already stretching out
! around, occupying at least three times
the space that would be allotted to the
inhabitants of the old country. Broad
rectangular lines of streets run far out
into the country, many of them marked
| by two or three houses, some by none,
but all of them appearing duly COM
| pleted in the map. A good arrange
ment this, so far as light and air are
| concerned. when the sun is in the sky,
but rather inconvenicnt when night
| comes into the question. and rain or
thaw sets in. Lighting and paving
then are felt to be at sad discount, OF,
if attempted on comfortable scale, the
pockets of the taxpayers feel the bur-
den. 1t is doubtless this circumstance
that makes the local taxes in American
towns more serious item than tho
contributions to the general revenue.
Other things in Ottawa have COM
menced on large scale. The
hotels are metropolitan in size
and appearance. and several daily
papers wage fierce warfare with cacn
other. In regard, however, to these
matters, hotels and newspapers. Otta-
wa is not distinguished from Canadian
towns of the same size. A stranger
can not understand how such large
hotels can be supported in small towns.
with no great influx of visitors. and
yet they seem to get along and prosper.
The system Of boarding, instead Of
living in their own houses, seems to be
that which supports many Of them, al
though in Canada this does not prevail
to any thing like the same extent rs in
the States. As to the daily papers, not
much that is eulogistic can be said.
They are meagre in general news, and
pervadcd by a bitter spirit of personal
attack, that is happily disappearing
from the Old Country.-RcU. John Her.
D. D., in Interior.